Of this year’s many awards contenders, Steve McQueen’s “12 Years A Slave” (our review) is the one—unfairly or not—many prognosticators have hotly tipped to take it all at the Kodak Theater next year. With the film already out in New York and L.A. with more cities to follow, Fox Searchlight has released two more clips from the film alongside a featurette focusing on McQueen himself.

First up are two short clips—both roughly a minute each—from the film. The first focuses on a tense interaction between Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Solomon Northup and Paul Dano’s loathsome Tibeats.The second clip is taken from the beginning of the film when Northup meets the two swindlers played by Scoot McNairy and Taran Killam—yes, the guy from S.N.L.

Lastly, there’s a featurette focusing entirely on director McQueen and how his outsider status—he was a visual artist before becoming a filmmaker—aids him in working on the film as well as his way of dealing with the actors and crew on set. It’s not particularly enlightening in and of itself, but the featurette’s very existence speaks to the studio’s hopes for McQueen’s awards chances. “12 Years A Slave” is in theaters in New York and Los Angeles right now and will expand nationwide over the coming weeks. Watch the clips and featurette below.